Aggregate machine



y 7, 1957 G. w. VAN DRIE 2,791,331

AGGREGATE MACHINE Filed June 1, 1954 [6 i=1].- M v INVENTOR. a G.W VanDrie States This invention relates to gravel cleaning machines,particularly adapted for removing foreign materials from aggregate foruse on roadways and in mixing concrete, and in particular a housinghaving a receiving hopper at the upper end with adjustable bafiles inthe hopper and housing, whereby the flow of material through the cleaneris adapted to be regulated and wherein the gravel is subjected to ablast of air as it drops downwardly by gravity, in the housing so thatforeign materials, such as shale, coal, lirnonite, fossil corals,hematite concretions, lumps of clay, sticks, and other trash or dirt,the specific gravity of which is less than that of the gravel are blownfrom the gravel.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a gravel cleaning machinewherein the gravel drops by gravity through a screen of air in whichbafiles and plates for controlling the supply of gravel and air, andalso the passage of foreign matter removed from the gravel from themachine and the discharge of the cleaned gravel are adjustable.

Gravel used for surfacing roadways is required to meet certainspecifications and owing to the different characteristics of thematerials in different parts of the country the specifications are notconsistent throughout the United States. As an illustration, the HighwayCommissioner of the State of Iowa requires that the gravel shall containnot more than one percent of shale and coal combined. In other words, tomeet the said specifications the gravel must not contain more than onepercent of undesired substances, such as shale or coal, or coal andshale combined. In some parts of the country gravel used for roadwaysand building purposes will often contain dirt, fossil corals, l-imonite,and hematite concretions, and in other parts gravel will contain lumpsof clay, sticks and other trash. In order to be accepted such substancesmust be removed from the gravel.

With this thought in mind this invention contemplates a gravel cleaningmachine in which the gravel drops through the machine and also through ablast of air in the machine by gravity in which the supply of gravel tothe machine, the circulation of air through the machine and gravel, andthe discharge of the removed materials and cleaned gravel are eachindependently adjustable so that the machine may be set to clean gravelto meet the requirements of the diflferent parts of the country.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a gravel cleaningmachine that is readily adjustable to clean gravel to meet therequirements of the different parts of the country.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gravel cleaning machinein which the passage of gravel through the machine is actuatedcompletely by gravity.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a gravelcleaning machine in which both the supply of aggregate to the machineand the discharge of cleaned aggregate from the machine are adapted tobe regulated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gravel or aggregatecleaning machine in which after being ad justed to clean gravel tocertain requirements the machine is adapted to operate indefinitelywithout an attendant or operator.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a gravel oraggregate cleaning machine in which the ma chine is of a simple andeconomical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in View the inventionembodies a vertically disposed housing, rectangular-shaped in crosssection, a receiving hopper atent positioned on and extended from theupper end of the housing, a baffle adjustably mounted in the hopper, agate for admitting a blast of air positioned in the side of the housingfrom the upper end of which the'hopper extends, a motor driven blowermount-ed on a bracket at one side of the housing and positioned todischarge air through said gate, an adjustable discharge opening forforeign matter removed from the aggregate by air from the blower, abafiie adjustably mounted in the housing for guidingthe foreign matterto the discharge opening, an outlet opening in the base of the housingthrough which the aggregate p asses'by gravity to bins or to con veyingmeans, and a baffle adjustably mount-ed in the lower part of the housingfor controlling the'fiow of the gravel or aggregate through theoutlet-opening.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing-description takenin connection with the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view illustrating the improveda'ggregatecleanin'g machine with battles and adjusting plates "shown indotted'lines and with a conveyor belt at the upper end of the machineand supporting legs extended downwardly from the housing broken away.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the machine also showing the device with theconveyor belt broken away.

Figure 3 is a detailshowing a portion of a front elevational view of themachine illustrating the adjusting plate of the discharge gate oropening.

While one embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the abovereferred to'drawings, his to be understood that they are merely for thepu-rpose of illustration and that various changes in construction may heresorted to in the course of manufacture in order that the invention maybe utilized to the bestadvantage according to circumstances which mayarise, without in any way departing from the spirit-and intention of thedevice, which is to be limited only in accordance with the appendedclaim. And while there is stated the 'primary field of utility of theinvention, it remains obvious that it may be employed in any othercapacity wherein it may be found applicable.

In preparing gravel for surfacing and paving highways the gravel isfirst crushed to a size commensurate with the requirements andspecifications of a highway commissioner of a certain locality. Thecrushed gravel is screened to a particular 'size whereby aggregate ofsubstantially uniform size is obtained and this product may containshale, coal, clay, sticks and other trash, the specific gravity anddensity of which is less than that of the gravel.

In the accompanying drawings, and in the following specification, thesame reference characters are used to designate the same parts andelements throughout, and in which the numeral 10 refers to the inventionin its entirety, numeral 12 indicating a housing, rectangularshaped incross section, numeral 14 a feed hopper having a bafile 16 therein,numeral 18 a pulley of a belt conveyor 20 that is positioned to supplygravel to the hopper 14, numeral 22 a blower actuated by 'a motor 24 forcirculating air through the gravel as it drops from the hopper 14,numeral 26 a baffle for guiding foreign matter removed from the gravelor aggregate to a discharge opening of the housing, and numeral 28 abafile for guiding the gravel or aggregate to the outlet opening in thelower part of the housing.

The housing 12 is formed with a front wall 30 having a discharge opening32 therein and the size of the opening is readily adjustable with aplate 34, the edges of which are held by L-shaped members or angles 36and 38. The plate 34 is provided with a plurality of vertically spacedopenings 49 through which a bolt 42, mounted in an opening in the frontwall 30, extends, and by moving the plate so that the bolt may be placedthrough different openings therein the size of the opening may beadjusted.

The batfie 26, which is positioned to coact with the opening 32, ispivotally mounted by a pin 44 in bearings 46 on the inner surface of thewall 30, and the extended end of the baflle is adjustably held by a rod48 which extends through ears 50 on the under side of the baflle, andalso through spaced openings 52 in side walls 54 and 56 of the housing.

The bafile 28 is adjustably held by a rod 58 at the lower end and a rod60 at the upper end, and the rod 60, which extends through ears 62 alsoextends through spaced openings 64 in the side walls 54 and 56. The rod58, which is pivotally connected to the bathe 28 with bearings 66, ispositioned to extend through openings 68 in vertically disposed legs ofangle bars 70, and with both the upper and lower ends of the baffle heldin spaced openings the battle is readily adjusted to correspond with thesize of the outlet opening. The outlet opening is adjusted by a plate 72that is slidably held in the angle bars 70.

The housing, which is supported by corner posts 74, is also providedwith a rear wall 76 that is provided with an opening through which airis circulated through the housing by the fan or blower, and the openingfor the air is regulated by plates 78 and 80 that are held in positionwith bolts 82 and 84. The bolts 82 and 84 are mounted in the rear wall76 and the plates are provided with vertically spaced openingspositioned to receive the bolts whereby the plates are adapted to bemoved upwardly or downwardly to adjust the size of a gate formed betweenedges of the plates and positioned to register with the opening throughthe rear wall of the housing.

The blower 22 is mounted on a platform 86, which is secured at one endto the rear wall 76, and the opposite end, which extends outwardly fromthe rear wall is supported by braces 88 which connect the extended endof the platform to the rear wall. A smaller platform 90 is alsosupported by the braces 88 at one end and by the rear wall at the other,and the motor 24 is secured to the platform 90 with bolts 92. The bloweris provided with a housing 94 having a neck 96 that is secured to therear wall, and a base 98 of the blower is secured to the platform 86with bolts 100.

The baffle 16 of the feed hopper 14 is pivotally mounted in side wallsof the hopper with a rod 102 that extends through bearings 104 on theunder side of the baffie, and also through openings 106 in the sidewalls, and the opposite end of the bafile is adjustably held by a rod108 that is positioned in cars 110 on the under surface of the baffle,and that extends through openings 112 in the side Walls. The openings112 are positioned ona radius from the center or axis of the rod 102 andwith the openings spaced, as shown, the position of the baffle isreadily adjustable.

The battle 16 is positioned to coact with an inlet gate formed with aplate 114 that is provided with spaced openings 116 which are positionedto receive a belt 118 positioned in an upper panel 120 of the housing.The plate 114 is adapted to slide on the panel 120 in order to adjustthe size of the inlet opening which is indicated by the numeral 122. p

The side walls of the feed hopper 14 are provided with extensions 124and the extensions are provided with openings 126 in which a shaft 128of the roller or pulley 18 of the conveyor is rotatably mounted.

With the pulley 18 rotating in a clockwise direction gravel or aggregatetraveling in the direction of the arrow 130 is deposited upon the baffle16 of the feed hopper, and from the baffle the aggregate dropsdownwardly by gravity, as indicated by the arrows 132, dropping throughthe outlet opening in the lower end of the housing. In passing the gatepositioned between the edges of the plates 78 and 80 foreign matter, andparticularly materials of lower specific gravity and lower density, areblown from the aggregate and deposited upon the baffle 26 from which theforeign matter passes through the discharge opening 32.

The blower 22 is driven by the motor 24 with a belt 134 which is trainedover pulleys 136 and 138 on the blower and motor, respectively, and witha variable speed motor, the current or blast of 'air is adapted to beregulated. With the current of air regulated and with the size of thegate through which the air is driven also adjustable, substantially anyamount of air desired may be circulated through the aggregate.

In addition to regulating the air passing through the aggregate orgravel, the baffle 16 in the feed hopper is adapted to be adjusted toregulate the feed of the aggregate to the housing, and the bafiles 26and 28 which control the discharge of the foreign matter and passage ofthe aggregate through the outlet opening are also ad- 'justable. By thiscombination of adjustable elements the machine is adapted to be set toremove substantially all foreign matter from the aggregate regardless ofthe part of the country in which the machine is used, or of the type ofmaterial from which the gravel or aggregate is taken.

With substantially all foreign matter removed the final product iscomparatively clean and adapted to be used freely for road surfacing andpaving and also for mixing concrete.

From the foregoing specification, it will become apparent that theinvention disclosed will adequately accomplish the functions for whichit has been designed' and in an economical manner, and that itssimplicity, accuracy, and ease of operation are such as to provide arelatively inexpensive device, considering what it will accomplish andthat it will find an important place in the art to which it appertainswhen once placed on the market.

It is thought that persons skilled in the art to which the inventionrelates will be able to obtain a clear understanding of the inventionafter considering the description in connection with the drawings.Therefore, a more lengthy description is regarded as unnecessary.

Changes in shape, size, and rearrangement of details and parts, such ascome within the purview of the invention claimed may be resorted to, inactual practice, if desired.

Having now described the invention that which is claimed to be new anddesired to be procured by Letters Patent, is:

In a machine for treating gravel, the combination which comprises avertically disposed housing having an inlet opening in the upper end, anoutlet opening in the lower end and aligned with said inlet opening, anair gate in the rear of the housing and a discharge opening in the frontthereof, each of said inlet, outlet,

'and discharge openings having an adjustably mounted plate positioned tocoact therewith to regulate the sizes of said opening, and said air gatehaving adjustable upper and lower plates positioned to coact therewithto regulate the area of the air gate, a feed hopper positioned on theupper end of the housing, baflles positioned to guide materials to theinlet, outlet, and discharge openings, means for adjustably mounting thebaffies in the hopper and housing, means for adjusting the positions ofthe baffles, a platform mounted on one side of the housing andpositioned below said air gate, a blower positioned on the platform andadapted to discharge air through said air gate, a motor for actuatingthe blower, and means for feeding aggregate to said feed 7 hopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES'PATENTS460,73] Stone Oct. 6, 1891 1,420,593 Titchmarsh June 20, 1922 2,272,649Smith Feb. 10, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany June 22, 1953

